Red Sox Beat: Sox get a gift in 4-3 walk-off win over Braves

After suffering the ignominy of a 10-game losing skid Boston won its fourth straight, walking off with a 4-3 victory over Atlanta on Thursday night at Fenway Park.

By Eric AvidonDaily News staff

BOSTON — The Braves and Red Sox played a game of give-and-take, with Boston more than willing to accept Atlanta’s generosity.

After Jake Peavy and Mike Minor engaged in an unlikely pitchers’ duel, the Braves bullpen was entrusted with preserving a two-run lead. But thanks in part to three errors in less than two innings, the Red Sox roared back, and after suffering the ignominy of a 10-game losing skid Boston won its fourth straight, walking off with a 4-3 victory Thursday night at Fenway Park when Xander Bogaerts hit a smash to third base that turned into an error and allowed Jackie Bradley Jr. to waltz home with the winning run.

"The arrow is pointing in the right direction," said Bradley. "Now we just have to keep it up and try to win tomorrow. I’m glad we got the win tonight."

Bradley led off the bottom of the ninth with a five-pitch walk against Braves closer Craig Kimbrel (0-1), and moved to second when Brock Holt also walked.

Bogaerts, on a tear over nearly three weeks during which he’s delivered on all the promise he showed in last year’s postseason, then hit a laser to third base, and Bradley scored when third baseman Chris Johnson’s throw to second base to try and get Holt was misplayed by second baseman Tommy La Stella and bounced away.

An inning earlier, with the Braves up 3-1 heading to the bottom of the eighth, David Carpenter was summoned to relieve Minor. Holt greeted him with a bloop single to left that was misplayed by Justin Upton to allow Holt to reach second. Bogaerts then ripped a single to right-center to drive in Holt and bring the Red Sox within a run.

Dustin Pedroia followed with an infield single to put runners on first and second. A.J. Pierzynski then singled to center, and when B.J. Upton committed the second Braves’ error of the inning Bogaerts scored the tying run.

Koji Uehara (1-1) pitched a scoreless top of the ninth to get the win.

Bogaerts — who had three hits with a double, RBI, and a run — is hitting .373 over his last 17 games.

"I try to relax," Bogaerts said of the late-inning situations. "I think the last one I was a bit nervous. I even bit my lip, and then I told myself, ‘Just calm down, try to get a run in or hit a deep ball so a guy can advance.’ "

He added, "I’m glad things are going our way."

Peavy, for his part, turned in his best performance in nearly a month.

After starting the season with five solid starts in six tries, compiling a 2.87 earned run average through May 1, he got hit hard in three of his four starts entering Thursday — he’d allowed 16 runs in his last 16 1/3 innings — and his ERA had climbed to 4.65.

But against the Braves he went eight innings, allowed three runs on eight hits, struck out four and walked one.

Jason Heyward accounted for the first run of the night with a two-out bomb in the third inning that landed in the right-field grandstand. The second run against Peavy came an inning later when Freddie Freeman drew a one-out walk, went to second on a balk called by second base umpire Bob Davidson that incensed Peavy, and scored on a single to left by Evan Gattis.

The Braves later got what seemed like an insurance run in the top of the eighth, with Freeman hitting a double high off the Monster to drive in B.J. Upton.

Peavy had only pitched as many as seven innings once all season prior to Thursday, and the three runs he allowed were the fewest he’s given up since May 7.

"I thought Peavy was as good as you’re going to get for him," said catcher David Ross. "He threw really well. I called a bad pitch to Jason Heyward that he executed, and then the balk call cost us another run. He goes eight innings, one run — that’s pretty good."

Minor, though he came in with a 3.90 ERA, gave up just one run on seven hits, struck out three and walked one in seven innings.

He got lucky in the first and and fourth innings when Bogaerts and Jonny Gomes hit blasts high off the Green Monster that would have been home runs in other ballparks, but he was unlucky in the fifth when Ross and then Holt hit lazy fly balls that hit low on the Monster for doubles that led to a run.

It was only when Minor departed that things turned for the Red Sox.

"We swung the bats well in that eighth inning, took advantage of some erratic pitching by Kimbrel, and ... they contributed with some balls in play on the defensive side of things," said manager John Farrell. "It was a good comeback win."

Brandon Workman will be given the chance to pitch the Red Sox to a fifth straight win Friday against the Rays, then the team will turn to Rubby De La Rosa on Saturday.

Eric Avidon can be reached at 508-626-3809 or eavidon@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @ericavidon.

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